Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Ben Carson
are among the Republican presidential candidates who have signed a
pledge to take immediate action to protect opponents of marriage
equality.

The American Principles Project and
Heritage Action for America, the political arm of the Heritage
Foundation, joined in asking presidential candidates to pledge to
push for passage of the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA) and sign
it into law during the first 100 days of their administration.

Introduced June 17 by
Senator Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho, FADA seeks to
bar federal “discriminatory action” against those who oppose such
unions based on a “religious belief or moral conviction.”

“The Federal Government shall not
take any discriminatory action against a person, wholly or partially
on the basis that such person believes or acts in a religious belief
or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the
union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations are properly
reserved to such a marriage,” the bill states.

Carly Fiorina, Rick Santorum and Mike
Huckabee have also signed the pledge, while Jeb Bush, Lindsey Graham,
Rand Paul and Donald Trump have not but have expressed public support
for FADA.

Four GOP candidates – Chris Christie,
John Kasich, George Pataki and Jim Gilmore – have neither signed
the pledge nor expressed support for FADA.

“It has become clear that the First
American Defense Act is rapidly becoming a signature issue that
unifies the GOP,” said Maggie Gallagher, a senior fellow at
American Principles Project. “Real, concrete protections for gay
marriage dissenters appear to be just one election victory away.”